Millions play sports on artificial turf

Heather Mallick’s column decrying U of T’s plan to convert the back campus fields to artificial turf is unconvincing. The grass she celebrates is actually packed dirt or mud due to heavy use. She speculates that the artificial surface would pose health risks, but the New York State Department of Health fact sheet she links to concludes that no such risks exist. The folly of her argument is compounded by her failure to acknowledge that millions already play sports on artificial turf, with no apparent ill effects.

She did raise one plausible reason for opposing the switch — the superior aesthetics of grass. However, these fields are used for sport, not poetic inspiration. Let's have durable playing fields on the back campus that allow for more sport throughout the year, and send the poets across the street to gaze on Trinity's gated green if they want for inspiration.